


welcome home

by Faye_Reynolds



Series: tumblr au prompts [7]
Category: Generation Kill
Genre: M/M, WWII!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 05:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Reynolds/pseuds/Faye_Reynolds
Summary: there was a lot that nate didn’t think would happen in his life. he didn’t think he’d ever have to go to war. he didn’t think he’d ever have to know what it was like to shoot and kill another human being. he didn’t think he’d ever have to learn how to deal with the immense loss and failure he’d feel when a man he was a supposed to protect, dies. but most of all he didn’t think, of all places he’d find love, would be amidst battle when his entire world shift from dull black and white into a mass of colors and brightness. and from the moment his eye lock with brad’s he knows that the entire course of his life has shifted. he sole focus is to make sure that he and brad make it out alive with the rest of their men. and above all, he didn’t think he’d ever have to find out what his life would be like without his soulmate. not after he’d just found him. and from the moment brad’s lips touch his, he knows that he’d do anything to make sure that neither of them would have to know such horror.





	welcome home

**Author's Note:**

> from [my tumblr post](http://thecompanyofheroes.co.vu/post/164122262758/icefick-wwiiau-there-was-a-lot-that-nate)

as the breeze from the eastern sea struck brad’s skin, he knew he never wanted to leave american soil again. he was out for good and now he only had one goal in mind.

after their tour in europe, nate had gotten out. he’d told brad that he’d seen enough of war. 

brad…he’d seen enough, but he didn’t feel like he did enough. 

so he’d gone to the pacific. 

without nate.

and it’d been the most difficult decision of brad’s life. how does one choose between their soulmate and their call to duty? as soldiers, the choice wasn’t easy.

but nate had been everything brad needed.

where brad was uncertain and cautious, nate was surety and understanding.

and when brad was being shipped off to the pacific, in their last moment together, nate had given brad strict orders not to die and to make sure he came back. 

brad was never one to disobey direct orders, so he tried his hardest to follow nate’s command.

and it’d worked. on his darkest nights, the thought of returning to nate and seeing the blue in his eyes that brad couldn’t yet describe entirely, was the brightness that cleared his mind.

so now, on a ship back home and absolutely buzzing to surprise nate because he hadn’t told him he’d be coming home, brad was done.

he’d done his duty, he felt like he’d done more than he was ever asked and thought he’d never asked for it, many men had thanked him for their lives.

he hadn’t done it for them, he’d done it because it needed doing. that was it.

he departs from the ship, pushing through the swarms of people welcoming people home. 

he spots ray, who’d been sitting on walt’s shoulders, clamber down and run into brad’s arms.

“bradley! look at you! looking all proper and shit. how was your vacation?”

brad smiled at the reaction from the people around them and pulled his arm across ray’s throat gently before dragging him to walt’s car.

“ray…just when i thought this place couldn’t get anymore trashy.”

“you flatter me brad. i thought you didn’t think.”

brad pushes ray into the back of the car and smile when walt just kisses the spot that ray was rubbing where brad had hit him.

god, he couldn’t wait to see nate. 

* * *

the thing about nate is that he was often too smart for his own good.

so when ray had phoned him last night and asked whether or not he’d be home today, nate knew what was happening.

every since the war in the pacific had ended, nate had been waiting.

waiting for new. waiting to hear from brad. waiting to find out anything regarding his return.

and ray, indirectly, had given it all away.

so now nate was trying to decide whether or not to feign surprise when brad’s feet hit their front porch or to wait on the front porch and await his return.

he knew brad wanted to surprise him, but maybe it was nate’s turn to surprise brad.

after all, brad had surprised him enough in their time together. he surprised nate when he’d crossed the battlefield with single minded, albeit love-blind, determination and kiss nate in the heat of battle. he’d surprised nate when he took them to an empty house just outside of town and told nate he’d bought it for them. he surprised nate even further when he said he reenlisted to fight in the pacific. and he surprised himself when he found himself supporting brad.

but brad had needed the support, needed to know that nate saw he wasn’t running away, it was something that brad  _needed_  to do and nate saw that. he loved it. he loved brad. and he couldn’t deny him a single thing in the world.

nate was so lost in his thoughts that he barely hears the car doors slam outside the door. 

he panics for a quick second before deciding what to do.

he laughs before he runs to the kitchen and grabs what he needs.

he’s back at the front door just as brad knocks. 

nate grabs the empty milk jugs sitting beside their front entrance and answers the door on an apron.

* * *

brad’s heart was about to punch through his chest. he didn’t know why he was so nervous. nate was his soulmate and while, for some, that didn’t mean anything.

it meant the world to both of them. but it had been two years. and that’s a long time for someone to wait.

but when nate opens the door, wearing only an apron, brad’s heart stops completely and he forgets how to breathe.

then nate speaks admonishingly and brad’s heart starts up again.

“you’re not the milk man.” nate sighs dejectedly and brad could’ve believed it if it weren’t for the pure love and happiness pouring out of nate’s eyes and smile.

brad steps into nate’s space and pushes him against the door.

“i’ve killed men for less.” brad growls against nate’s jaw.

and though the sentence should’ve normally given them pause, both men knew brad was only joking, regardless of the truth in the statement. 

nate laughed and wrapped his arms around brad’s neck and gripped his shoulder hard.

“but then how would we get our milk, brad?”

brad’s laughing breath caused a delicious shiver to dance down nate’s spine.

“i’ll buy you a cow, nate.”

“i don’t think the neighbors would appreciate a cow. think of the gossip.”

brad sighed against nate’s neck, any and all nerves and tension dissipating into thin air.

“then i’ll buy you a new house, but for the love of god just fucking kiss me.”

nate smiled and brad saw reflected in the blue eyes, the eyes that had kept him awake and alive, he saw the love and dedication and happiness that brad felt inside.

“hell of an idea, brad.”


End file.
